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Sarah Palin Deserves Some More Attention

Its very lack of explanation, and ensuing incredulity and apoplexy, propel it.

There may not have ever been anything like it in modern American politics. Well, Ronald Reagan perhaps. But his was, at least, a 20-year phenomenon. In little more than a year, Sarah Palin has gone from zero status to significant opposition leader, contender for the leadership of her party, and one of the most extraordinary media figures in the country.

It is hard to catch up with her. She moves too fast to study. Beside the expressions of incredulity and apoplexy, nobody in the media has been able to offer any satisfying rationale for her fantastic rise. Indeed, every analysis in essence explains why she should merely be a laughing stock, which, curiously, she is, even as her rise continues.

To my knowledge, there are at this point only two journalists even trying to uncover the basic operations of the Palin phenomenon.